Sleep
by Mjstevie
Summary: Danny Phantom always seems to come out of a battle with barely a scratch, what if once he didn't? What if when he didn't Samantha Manson realised just how in love with her best friend she was? What if the world had no Danny Phantom left to protect them? But, what if near death was slightly different for a half ghost? Danny/Sam
1. The Collapse

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters from the show :( **_

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"That all you got?" Danny challenged as Skulker shot a blast of blue energy at him, he dodged it easily, "Thought so."

"I will have your pelt ghost child. You are no match for-"

"The greatest hunter yada yada yada. Can you give it a rest Skulker? We get the picture." This cocky remark only infuriated the battle-suited ghost more.

"Danny, could you kick his butt extra quick today?" Tucker Foley, Danny's best friend stood below the pair of hovering ghosts watching the exchange with an impatient look on his face, "Mom wants me home by eight, some new 'family bonding time' or something and she'll kill me if I get home late."

Sam, who was standing beside the darker skinned teen, sniggered. Danny shot them both an incredulous look. Skulker seized his chance, shooting a blast of a glowing green energy from one of the various weaponry on his battle suit at the momentarily distracted halfa. Danny turned just in time and put a shield just before the blast struck.

"Hey! Now you're just pissing me off." Danny sent a ghost ray at the other ghost, Skulker easily evaded. Suddenly, without any warning Skulker set off everything at once in his battle suit. Several large guns appeared from various places on his suit. Danny's eyes widened as there was a large boom and each weapon fired.

With only slight hesitation, Danny opened his mouth and let out a ferocious ghostly wail. It effectively sent all the weapons back at Skulker, sending him crashing into a building behind, a loud bang resounding through Amity Park as the shots Skulker had fired hit their new target. Danny's altitude dropped slightly as his eyes drooped, the wail giving out most of his remaining energy.

Sam quickly pointed the Fenton Thermos in Skulker's direction, the smoke still clearing. The blue beam sucked the ghost inside before Sam sealed it shut. The tired ghost boy still hovered in the air and looked close to passing out. He slowly dropped down beside his friends before changing back to his human form, swaying slightly on his feet.

Suddenly, a flash of green darted in front of the three teens eyes as a shot was fired from somewhere above on the roof of a building. Danny, Sam and Tucker looked up in alarm to see none other than Skulker himself standing there smugly. Sam looked at the Fenton Thermos, eyes bulging. She hadn't sealed it properly and hadn't noticed Skulker slipping out.

"Uh... sorry?" Danny and Tucker rolled their eyes.

"I'm going ghost." The two rings flashed over Danny's body and his hair turned from jet black to pure white, his t-shirt, pants and sneakers changing to a black jumpsuit, white boots, belt and gloves as well as the DP emblem in the centre of his chest, recently added by Sam. Sam placed a hand on his shoulder just as he was about to fly off to confront the escaped hunter.

"You're too weak to fight him again Danny. You're spent already!" Danny gave her an annoyed look.

"Well, I wouldn't have to fight him again if _someone _had sealed the Thermos properly." He chastised.

"Hey, accidents happen, I was only trying to help." She defended herself with crossed arms.

"Well, then you should have tried _harder._" Danny spat the words like venom before flying off to fight Skulker, shaking Sam's hand off his shoulder. Sam and Tucker were taken aback by his outburst.

"He's just cranky. He's tired and-" Tucker never got to finish his sentence as Sam screamed out after the halfa who was now engaged in battle.

"You, Danny Fenton, are a selfish jerk and I'M GOING HOME!" Danny showed no sign he had heard her. Sam stomped off round the corner leaving a bewildered and torn Tucker who was still trying to decide whether he should stay here in case Danny needed a hand or chase after his female friend.

He never did get a chance to decide. A cry of pain resounded through the air as Danny Phantom was propelled through the air by a blast of Skulker's ectoplasmic energy hitting him square in the chest and into the very same wall he had thrown his attacker into earlier.

"DANNY!" Tucker cried out in horror as the already weakened structure crumbled under the force of yet another body being slammed against it's surface. He saw a flash of familiar rings as Danny changed back to human form, just as the building collapsed to the ground, on top of his best friend.

* * *

Sam never got far before she heard a familiar yelp of pain. She turned round and began to jog back where she had came from. As she rushed round the corner, the building collapsed. She was thrown backwards by the force and flying bits of wood and brick debris flying at her. As the dust cleared she could just about make out Tucker hauling himself up about two feet in front of her.

"Tucker what happened?" As she scrambled towards him she could hear sirens wailing in the distance. Someone had obviously seen the building collapse and called the authorities, "Where's Danny?"

Tucker gulped. "He's under there somewhere." Sam gasped before rushing toward the rubble, Tucker following suit as they began clambering over the fallen debris.

"Danny! Can you hear us?" Sam's anguished cry resounded through the air as she searched for her best friend. She was faintly aware of a police car and an ambulance pulling up somewhere in the street behind her and Tucker rushing back over the rubble, gabbling on frantically, explaining something about a ghost attack, tactfully leaving out the fact Danny had been _fighting _the attacking ghost.

Suddenly she caught a glimpse of a familiar mop of jet black hair filled with dust and rubble. She hastily scrambled over the rocks, screaming to the others, "He's over here!" Sam quickly rushed to his side as paramedics stumbled over the chaos towards them. Crouching down she saw a trickle of scarlet blood coming from his temple. He was unconscious though thankfully seemed to be breathing. If only just. Tears clouded her amethyst eyes as she saw just how bad a way Danny was in.

"Danny Fenton. You will not leave me you hear?" Her voice broke on the last word and the tears rolled freely down her cheeks. "Please don't leave me, I'm sorry." her voice was barely more than a whisper. Tears drops landed on Danny's pale, dusty face, leaving tracks as they rolled down his skin. Gently, she pressed a kiss to his forehead just as a the paramedics reached them.

"Come on honey, let the experts do the work now." A female medic placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and steered her away from where the other medics were crouching, freeing Danny from the rubble and placing him on a stretcher. Sam opened her mouth to protest but the woman cut in first adding, "I know you want to stay with him, I'd be the same but I honestly think your other friend needs you now."

Sam's eyes flickered up towards Tucker who was sitting in an ambulance, his feet swinging out the back, not quite touching the ground. His eyes were red and tears streaked his face, his eyes looked unfocussed and as if they were staring into space. Tucker never cried, Sam could tell the paramedic lady was right. She allowed herself to be ushered and sat down beside Tucker in the back of one of the ambulances.

She reached over and softly squeezed Tucker's hand. He looked at her with glassy eyes and squeezed it hard back. A ghost of a smile momentarily wavered on his lips before disappearing again.

"He'll be okay," Tucker finally managed to croak out, "he always is." Sam shook her head sadly.

"That's just it. We always expect him to be okay. He always seems to come out of a battle relatively unharmed, what if this time he doesn't. What if this time he isn't okay. A-and then, the last thing I would have said to him was that he was a s-selfish j-jerk." Sam burst into a fresh set of tears, burrowing her face into Tucker's yellow sweater. Tucker looked taken aback for a moment but pulled her closer after his initial shock that _Samantha Manson, _die hard ultra-recyclo-vegetarian goth girl, was now reduced to a sobbing mess with her face buried in her techno geek best friend's top.

They were interrupted from their emotional comforting of each other by the Fenton's RV pulling up behind the ambulance. They jumped up as Jack and Maddie lead from the car, as guns blazing, quite literally. "Where's the ghost!" Jack Fenton's voice boomed, "We heard about a ghost attack this way!"

Suddenly Maddie caught sight of Sam wiping away her remaining tears ashamedly and Tucker watching them sadly from the ambulance. "Sam, Tucker are you two alright? What way did the gho-" Something seemingly clicked in Maddie's head as she noted the red eyes of the two teens not to mention, the absence of her son. "Where's Danny?" There was a slight edge of worry in her voice now.

She followed Sam's gaze as it flickered towards the unmoving form of Danny who was now laid on a stretcher as the medics brought him across the collapsed building toward a waiting ambulance. She let out an anguished wail, "No, Danny, my baby..." before rushing towards the limp body of her youngest child. Jack stood with his mouth standing open in shock.

"That's my son. A ghost did that to my boy." Sam and Tucker had never heard so much seriousness or grief in the big man's voice as he began to move toward his crying wife. "They're going to pay for this."

Sam eyed the discarded Thermos that was lying on the ground forgotten a few meters away. _**Oh yeah, s**_he thought to herself, _**if Danny isn't okay, I'll find him and believe me, he's going to pay alright.**_

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A/N: I AM NOT ABANDONING MY MERLIN STORIES! I just got very, very distracted by the Danny Phantom fandom recently and this fic was born. A bit of angst and a chance to let my inner Danny/Sam shipper out for a run around ;)

This will be a short fic, only a few chapters long but I hope you enjoy it anyways.

Until next time,

Mary XD


	2. The Hospital

Sam sat on the hard plastic hospital chair, staring straight ahead and clenching her fists together tightly. Tucker snored softly as he rested his head gently on Sam's shoulder, having fallen asleep about half an hour ago. Jazz sat straight and rigid to her left eyes red from crying, clutching a disposable cup of coffee from the vending machines that had long gone cold in her hands.

Sam couldn't sleep. Sam had no appetite nor did she want anything to drink. All she could focus on was Danny being okay. It had been over five hours now, since Danny had been rushed to hospital, and still they had heard no news. Maddie and Jack had went to search for some doctors and demand some information on their only son's condition about an hour ago and still hadn't came back.

They had been left alone in the long corridor for most of their time here. Only the occasional nurse wheeling a patient down the white tiles or doctor walking swiftly towards the doors dotted along the sides of the long hallway, their shoes squeaking loudly over the highly polished surface.

-Flashback-

"_**I'm going ghost!" Sam placed a hand on her wore out best friend's shoulder to hold him back as he changed to his alter ego and went to fly up to face Skulker again. **_

"_**You're too weak to fight him again Danny. You're spent already!" Danny shot her a very annoyed glare.**_

"_**Well, I wouldn't have to fight him again if **someone **had sealed the Thermos properly." The half ghost added, giving Sam a pointed stare.**_

"_**Hey, accidents happen, I was only trying to help." Sam retorted, folding her arms defensively across her chest.**_

"_**Well, then you should have tried **harder**!" Danny huffed and swatted her hand off his shoulder before flying up to face Skulker for the second time that day. Sam and Tucker were left standing below looking shocked. **_

"_**He's just cranky. He's tired and-" Sam cut Tucker off with a yell at the halfa.**_

"_**You, Danny Fenton, are a selfish jerk and I'M GOING HOME!" She turned promptly on her heel and speed walked away when Danny didn't respond to her at all.**_

_**Not five minutes later, Samantha Manson was running back to find her best friend trapped under a building.**_

-End of Flashback-Back to Sam's POV-

The tears began to roll slowly down her face for the second time that day as she remembered what the last thing she had said to him was.

"This is all my fault." She whispered to herself as she buried her face in her hands. It seemed Jazz had heard her anguished whisper as she pulled the younger girl close and whispered into her hair.

"It's not your fault Sam. You can't blame yourself." Sam shook her head and cried harder into Danny's sister's shoulder.

"It is. We had Skulker caught, but I didn't seal the Thermos properly and he got out. Danny had to fight him again. If I had have sealed it properly then none of this would be happening." Jazz hugged her tighter, trying to reassure her that she wasn't fully to blame.

"H-he was mean to me and I screamed at him. I can't live with myself if that's the last thing I would have said to him..." Sam trailed off as she heard two familiar sets of footsteps coming down the hall. She head shot up off Jazz's shoulder as Maddie and Jack came back.

"Did you find anyone? Did they tell you anything? Can we see him?" Jazz was on her feet and shooting questions in seconds, her forgotten coffee flying off her lap as she stood up and splatting across the floor. No one spared it a seconds glance as they focussed entirely on what Maddie was saying.

Maddie gulped as she began speaking, her voice shaking slightly, "H-he's in a coma," Sam's heart dropped to her stomach as Maddie continued, "We can see him now but they don't know when he's going to wake up or if there's going to be any... serious consequences of his head injury." A lone tear ran down the mother's face.

"You mean like brain damage?" It was all Sam could do to keep her voice steady. Jack nodded sadly and solemnly.

"Also, when he got trapped, he broken some ribs. On puncture his left lung so now he's having help breathing." Jack stated flatly. A single tremor in his voice giving away his façade of calmness.

"Can we see him now?" Jazz's voice wavered as she posed the question. Maddie nodded and began to walk up the hallway to find Danny's room, Jack and Maddie following closely behind.

"I'll meet you there in a second, I'm just going to wake Tucker and explain to him." Sam called softly up the hall. Jazz looked back just before they turned the corner to shoot her a sad smile and a small thumbs up. As soon as they were gone, Sam gently shook Tucker to wake him.

"Five more minutes Mom..." He whimpered and snuggled further into the plastic chair. Sam rolled her eyes half-heartedly.

"Tucker. We can see Danny now." Her voice was choked up as she shook her best friend again. His eyes shot open as he remembered sleepily why they were here and what had happened earlier that day.

"Sam! Is he okay?" He stood up quickly and searched her eyes pleadingly for the answer they both so desperately wanted to hear. Sam gulped in air as she tried to voice the word she so didn't want to be true.

"He's in a coma," Tucker's eyes widened, "They don't know when he'll wake up. Or if he's got brain damage."

"Where is he?" It only occurred as Tucker said it now that she had absolutely no idea what room Danny was in.

"I don't know. Go check at reception. I'll... be with you in five minutes." Tucker gave her a questioning look but obliged all the same. Her amethyst eyes watched until he was out of sight before she let out a shaky sigh. She walked, as though in a dream, towards the ladies bathroom just down the corridor in the opposite direction that the others had went.

It was empty. For that small thing Sam was very grateful. She quickly darted into a cubicle before locking the door. Sam dropped to the ground as a wave of convulsive sobs she had been holding in since the accident crashed over her body.

"Danny, I'm so so sorry..."

* * *

Danny's eyes shot open as something heavy seemingly sat on his chest. Or rather sat _through _his chest. His line of vision was completely obscured by a large shape in a rather alarming shade of orange. A rather familiar alarming shade of orange. His dad's jumpsuit. So then, his dad was sitting on him. Or rather, through him. Great.

Did he not notice his only son sitting on this chair first? Groaning inwardly, he turned intangible and floated upwards. Wait a second. He had already been intangible, what was going on here? Danny waved his hand in front of his father's face. Seemed he was invisible too. But he didn't remember going ghost. Nor sitting in that chair. Why did he wake up there then?

Wait... was that a _tear_? Was Jack Fenton _crying_? The last time Danny had seen his dad cry was, well, never. "Um... Dad- I mean Jack?" He quickly corrected himself after remembering he was in ghost form. His father didn't even blink. It was only now he noticed the other occupants of the room.

Jazz sat on one side of Jack and Maddie on the other. He tried flying in front of them. Nothing again. Maddie sniffed. Only now did he notice the two female's red eyes. They had all been crying. Why? He quickly flew through the door to the small room. Now where was he? A hospital? That much was clear from he trolley beds and nurses walking about. But why was everyone here?

Suddenly, a familiar red beret came into view. "Tucker!" Danny flew quickly to his best friend's side. "What's going on?" Tucker gave no indication that he had heard the halfa and continued walked towards the room Danny had left moments before. Maybe if he went back to human form? Maybe someone would notice him then?

Danny focused all his concentration into turning back to human form. Nothing happened. Danny panicked. No one could hear him. No one could see him. No one could help him. "TUCKER!" He flew quickly through the door just as his friend closed it. He was not expecting what he saw.

When he had first been in the room, he had been facing one wall where all his family had been. Now he saw the whole room. A large bed was sitting in the centre with various machines around it. A life support machine beeped steadily in the corner.

"T-that can't be right." The halfa gasped as he hovered over the familiar figure that lay still and pale in the bed below. "N-no. Please no."

"Wake up Danny, wake UP! This is just a dream. This can't be happening." The white haired boy tried pinching himself. It didn't work. All the memories of the events that had happened the previous day flooded back to him. Skulker. The Thermos. Sam. The ray. The building. The building had fell on him. And this is what had happened.

It all made sense now. The reason they were crying. The reason he was in a hospital, because there, on the bed below him lay the unmoving body of Daniel Fenton.

_**A/N: Sorry it's been a month but school started back. I'll try and update quicker in future but I am renowned for being a rubbish updater. Anyways, there you go, another chapter of Sleep for all you lovely people. Thanks for all your positive reviews! See y'all next week (or month)!**_

_**Mary XD**_


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